Connecting Society with Science: The Greater Potential of Giant Screen Experiences

On September 8, 2008, GSCA hosted the NSF-funded, one-day symposium, The Greater Potential of Giant Screen Experiences: Connecting Science with Society in Jersey City, New Jersey, one day prior to the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show. The symposium focused on helping to shape the nature and impact of giant screen film experiences that will help address science-related opportunities and challenges.

The 2008 symposium builds upon the 1999 groundbreaking symposium Giant Screen Films and Lifelong Learning, which changed the way we think about giant screen films and led to industry awards recognizing the best in educational filmmaking, an emphasis on research and evaluation for film development, a greater openness in film development industry-wide, and a focus on the promotion of learning outcomes from the films.

Experts in cognitive neuroscience, education, science communication, and the evaluation and communication of science and scientific controversy provided 2008 symposium participants with insights on how best to seize upon the greater educational potential of giant screen film experiences.

Included here are downloadable PDFs of papers submitted by symposium presenters as well as their PowerPoint presentations. Logging in with a GSCA user name and password is NOT required to access the symposium materials.

Evaluation Report, Prepared by Knight Williams Research Communications
Final Report to the National Science Foundation

“Lessons Learned from GSCA’s 2008 Symposium”
PDFs of the presentations made during the lifelong learning committee’s professional development session at the GSCA 2009 International Conference and Trade Show
Dr. Emlyn Koster: Lessons Learned from GSCA’s 2008 Symposium
Valerie Knight-Williams: Summary of Evaluation Findings
Mary Nucci: Recapping the Breakout Sessions
Mary Nucci: The Lifelong Learning Committee: Next Steps

Preparatory Materials for The Greater Potential of Giant Screen Experiences: Connecting Society with Science
Includes focus group conclusions, welcoming letters, filmmakers’ papers, presenters’ advance papers, student scholarship awardees’ papers, and appendices. This booklet was provided to symposium attendees in advance of the event.

“Giant Screen Films and Lifelong Learning”
Alice Apley, Ph. D.
Research Associate
RMC Research
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
Apley PowerPoint Presentation

“Grand Challenges for the Giant Screen”
Randy Atkins
Senior Program Office, Media/Public Relations
National Academy of Engineering
Washington, DC, USA

“Science and Visual Communication”
Ann Marie Barry, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
Barry PowerPoint Presentation

“The Inconvenience of Truth: Rethinking the Agency of Science Film Spectators in a Post-Postmodern Era”
Lisa Cartwright, Ph.D.
Professor of Communication and Science Studies
University of California
San Diego, USA

“Using Telepresence to Communicate Science in Giant Screen Cinema”
Matthew Lombard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Lombard PowerPoint Presentation

“The 12 Step Program (for Communicating Science): Mind the Gap!”
Ivan Oransky, M.D.

Managing Editor, Online
Scientific American
Oransky PowerPoint Presentation

“An Urgent Challenge”
Beverly K. Sheppard
President and CEO
Institute for Learning Innovation
Edgewater, Maryland, USA

“Science and Health Literacy in a Global Age: Images, Meanings, Prospects”
Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Ph.D.
Vice President, Corporate Responsibility
Merck & Co., Inc.
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA